The Supreme Court Tuesday threw out a case against the US government brought by a Lebanese-born German, alleging he was kidnapped by the CIA and tortured for months before being freed without charge.

He was demanding an apology from the US administration and 75,000 dollars in compensation, alleging he was flown to a prison in Afghanistan for questioning before being released five months later in Albania, without any explanation.

“When we deny justice to an innocent victim of our anti-terror policies, we make America less safe and we provide the government with the most complete immunity for even the most shameful human rights abuses,” his lawyer told AFP.

When the Supreme Court rejected Masri’s case, then “the government may engage in torture, declare it a state secret and by virtue of that designation avoid any judicial accountability for conduct that even the government purports to condemn as unlawful under all circumstances.”

The Bush administration argued that if the case went to trial information concerning “highly classified methods and means of the program” would have to be revealed to the court.

What’s so secret about our government condoning kidnapping and torture? The whole world knows about it. It’s only a question on Fox Snooze and in the minds of the truly gullible.

The last time the principle of state secrets was examined by the Supreme Court was in 1953, when after a military plane crash it ruled the then government did not have to disclose a military report into the accident to the families of three civilians killed.

But, hey, that’s only 54 years ago. If Bush reached all his goals, we’d have a 19th Century Supreme Court.